May- start of the training year

For the past month I have been working my way back into training gradually after my little month break in April. This year I made it a goal to stay active during my off period, so it was not nearly as painful as normal to jump back into the full swing of training. I still managed to get rocked by the end of the "annual start up camp", but I think that is impossible to avoid when you are part of the APU team.

My Claim to Fame- making the Deans List

Watching Reese throw down at a local bike race. Turns out, Reese Hanneman is a GOOD bike racer!

Last weekend we went on our final "spring AK crust cruise". This spring has been beautiful, lots of sun and awesome conditions for ripping around in the mountains. This means the snow is disappearing fast though. But my final spring AK ski went in the books for the best crust cruise ever. With the first 5k a groomed uphill track, once you pass the gate you are in full blow crust cruising mode. What this means is that you can go anywhere as you glide along the top of the un-groomed crust. Spending a lot of time on backcountry gear this spring, I was kicking myself for not nordic skiing up with my skis on my backpack and then jumping on the medal edges for the way down. Its amazing how fast you can get places on your nordic skis.

mmmmm.... AK!

Where the crust cruising begins- beyond the groomed tracks.

My final day of skiing I decided I was going to do something different, so I headed up the side of some mountain and decided to ski as far as I could, and see how high I could get. Along with Holly and Dillion, we managed to climb up the side of a peak and get pretty dang high. It was awesome, not to mention the ski down in the soft snow was amazing. For once it felt like I could make some turns on nordic skis, even without metal edges!!! Oh, and the sun was A-shining, so the whole time I was skiing, I couldn't stop thinking about how sweet my sport is, and how lucky I am to be able to do it in AK!

H. Brooks climbing the wall

Things got a little steep at the end....

Reaching the top of the pass.

But, now I am headed to Bend, Oregon for my first US Ski Team camp on snow up at Mt. Bachelor. I hear there is lots of snow, so hopefully the weather will behave and bring the sunshine out. From what I hear, the Canadian National Team will also be joining us, so it will be some fun times!

At this point my summer schedule is looking quite busy. Shortly after returning from my 10 day camp in Bend, I head up for my first camp on Eagle Glacier. Following that I take a quick 5 day trip to Park City, Utah for some testing as well as Rookie Camp (where you learn what it means to be on the US team along with all the other new US athletes). The following day after returning from Park City, I head up to the Glacier for the second June Camp. Meanwhile I will also be taking a summer class, so I will have my hands full. This pattern will continue for the following two months of the summer and then into the fall, so I have a feeling the training portion of this season is going to FLY!

From here it's 10 days of training with the US and Canadian ladies- I will try to take pictures and give some updates throughout the week.